Author
Topic: Hijacking a FB post (Read 6275 times)

I will point out right at the start that I'm not bothered overly by this so I'm not asking people to take part in a marital spat or anything but I would be interested to hear people's take on this.

Earlier today I re-posted Piratelvr's funny link (about Bic for Her's funny Amazon reviews and also Ellen's take on the matter, in the humour me folder if you are interested) onto my Facebook wall. Literally 5 minutes after I posted DH (who is at work, and in an industry where occassional facebooking is acceptable) posted "Oh yes, that's like this other funny thing" and posted a link to a different funny product review page for a different product on Amazon, nothing to do with pens or women or anything.

A couple of thoughts occurred to me about this;1. Now there are three links and no-one is going to bother looking at them because it is too much. I had deliberately posted one link in the post and another in the comments to break them up a bit on purpose but now it goes link; comment with another link; another comment with yet another link2. Images of women and how they are portrayed in the media are very much a hot topic in Australia at the moment - this week specifically. I wasn't just posting a link that was funny, but also pertinent to the topic of the day, which has now been derailed a bit.3. It feels a bit like joke-jacking "Yes, that is a funny thing, but look at MY funny thing, it's even funnier" especially since he posted so fast, he really wouldn't have had time to give my post more than a cursory glance. The Ellen link alone was 4 minutes long so he definitely didn't properly look at both before jumping in.

I think it's really number 3 that is bothering me (bothering isn't the right word but I can't think a word that means what I am feeling). I dealt with it by posting a funny comment back and have mentally written off that thread in my head, but I am interested to hear what others think of this. Is it okay to jump on someone else's thread like that? Should you at least make it LOOK like you have viewed their links before you post your own? Is it different if it is your spouse and you will see them face-to-face in a couple of hours? Am I just overthinking things, as is my wont?

Eh, I wouldn't worry about someone not looking at all the links. They may, they may not. I frequently do, esp if I have down time at work or am somewhere else and need entertainment.

As far as the funniness one-up-manship...one of the things I love about my particular group of friends on FB is that we all contribute and even get very random and try to derail threads deliberately. Threads don't "belong" to any one person, any more than a conversation in real life does. We are all share bears and try to make each other laugh all the time.

Now, if you want to run your FB page like a forum and make sure everybody stays on topic all the time, well, that's your call. But I suspect you are missing out on some fun.

Eh, I wouldn't worry about someone not looking at all the links. They may, they may not. I frequently do, esp if I have down time at work or am somewhere else and need entertainment.

As far as the funniness one-up-manship...one of the things I love about my particular group of friends on FB is that we all contribute and even get very random and try to derail threads deliberately. Threads don't "belong" to any one person, any more than a conversation in real life does. We are all share bears and try to make each other laugh all the time.

Now, if you want to run your FB page like a forum and make sure everybody stays on topic all the time, well, that's your call. But I suspect you are missing out on some fun.

Well, it wasn't so much the not staying on topic (that never happens ), it was more the not even paying lip service to my topic first. I'm still trying to clarify my vague feeling to myself so it's hard to explain, sorry. I think it was just that it was so quick that he obviously hadn't looked at my actual link that made me feel a bit off, more than anything else. I am sick today so I may just be a little fragile.

I totally get what you're saying. That would annoy me too. I post links that are interesting to me, in the hopes that I can have a conversation with people who also find it interesting! Unfortunately, I don't think there's really anything you can do about it.

What if you tried to re-direct? Like, "Yeah Joe that was pretty funny! That's like in the Ellen vid I posted when she did *this thing*, that really made me laugh"

It wouldn't annoy me, and I think you are making a big deal out of something when there is nothing there. All he was trying to do was share in the fun and humor, something completely innocent. It isn't joke-jacking, it's participating in the fun. I bet he posted the Milk page, didn't he?

I see it more as an invitation to view something similar. DH was probably thinking that if the first humorous Amazon review page amused you, the second would as well. If my friends share a link to something that amused them, I'll sometimes respond with a link to something similar that I think they would enjoy. Unless your introduction to the link specifically mentioned how it was relevant to current events, I can see that going over some people's heads. (From what I understand, the links you posted also have timeless appeal.)

I think your concern that it is joke-jacking is misplaced. Your hubby was probably posting the link because he thought you would enjoy it. I don't think folks would comment on your links for the benefit of your other readers, unless perhaps they were responding to someone else who had already commented on the link.

Sorry you're under the weather. I hope you feel better soon.

Logged

You have just begun reading the sentence you have just finished reading.

Thanks guys. Obviously the cold germs have made me paranoid DH does have a bit of a history of messing up online but he's been heaps better lately. It seems I must be still nervous about him relapsing or else my no sleep snuffly state has brought out my nasty suspicious side. Lucky I have you all to talk sense into me.

I wonder if you, on the other side of the globe, have the same strain of cold germs that I am not-exactly-over-yet? I have noticed that the cold passing around my friends and family seems to have a symptom of emotional upset - I've seen several people including myself being uncharacteristically oversensitive or overwrought about things.

I wonder if you, on the other side of the globe, have the same strain of cold germs that I am not-exactly-over-yet? I have noticed that the cold passing around my friends and family seems to have a symptom of emotional upset - I've seen several people including myself being uncharacteristically oversensitive or overwrought about things.

Two of my students have just come back from the US and have also had sick days in the last week, so I could have a new and exciting (NOT!) kind of cold. I will make sure I keep a sharp eye on myself in case of further overreactions.

Is it a case of 'You expect me to look at YOUR link on MY wall but you can't even be bothered to view my link'? I think I get why you're vaguely annoyed. It is a little bit rude.

However, there's not much you can do about it that won't look petty. Maybe next time you could post the link, and actually ask people to post their opinions as in 'What do you think of X topic brought up in the video? So funny but so true' or similar. (Apologies if you did that already).

BTW if anyone wants to actually cry laughing, read the Veet for Men reviews on the Amazon.co.uk site. Probably not for kids

I think that if you were attempting to put out a topical post/link maybe even to get conversation going, you missed the mark. Maybe only your husband missed the point of your post, but if that were the case then likely he couldn't truly hijack it. You could have got it back on track by commenting on the relevance to the news.

I say look first at your post. Did you communicate clearly what interested you in the linked reviews? Sometimes you have to be pretty explicit. I haven't looked up your link, but from the description, I'd probably take it as a joke and not look at it more seriously without some leading from you.

Logged

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.Walt Whitman